Lucas Blogs About Books

That's right, we're using this picture for a second consecutive April. The Intro Well, this is awkward, last year I was pretty sure that I would have this wrapped up in twelve months (although I did skip two months last year, so ‾\_(ツ)_/‾. In any case, welcome to the eleventh entry in Whan That Month, my ongoing project to read the entirety of the extant Canterbury Tales  by Geoffrey Chaucer, as collected in the Norton edition by editor David Lawton. Last month I polished off the seventh fragment, and now it's time to start in on the eighth, this one only has two tales, so let's dive right in with: The Second Nun's Prologue There is no linking segment here, no banter among pilgrims or prodding by Harry Bailly, just the Second Nun directly addressing the reader, uh, I mean the pilgrims. She begins by warning about the dangers of idleness, which can lead to vice. However, to counter that, she intends to embark on a translation of the legend of Sainte Cecilye (Cecilia)

As cool as the picture is, no such scene occurs in the book. So, what's this book's dea—wait a minute! Is that a regular book? What do you mean by that? You know what I mean, a book that isn't a comic or The Canterbury Tales ? Oh. . . yeah. I still read some of those sometimes. Anyway, the deal with this particular book is that it's a novella by Becky Chambers and it's called To Be Taught if Fortunate . In spite of the person floating in space without a helmet, it's what you might call hard science fiction. Oh was it difficult to get through? What? Oh I see, you're pretending to not know about the distinction between "hard" and "soft" science fiction so that I can explain it. Does pointing out the purpose of a rhetorical device render the whole thing moot? Maybe. But generally the dividing line between hard and soft science fiction is whether the story generally comports with the current scientific understanding of what is possible. Also,

Like the one that sustained Saint Corentin ? I've been kicking around an idea for a Hey, Hypothetical Reader!  where HR and I would discuss canon. You know, like in the context of fiction. I would have this whole schtick about how canon is a mind-prison that leads to a hyper-focus on continuity at the expense of examining what really matters about a story. Namely, what it makes you think and feel. They don't assign The Great Gatsby or The Scarlet Letter  to high school juniors so they can find out whether Daisy will leave Tom for Gatsby or who the father of Hester Prynne's daughter is ( SPOILER: she won't and it's very obviously Reverend Dimmesdale). They assign them because A) The Literary Canon is also a mind-prison; and 2) both feature such obvious symbolism that even a high school junior will notice it. I feel like I'm getting off track, let's start over: The Magic Fish   is a graphic novel for young readers by Trung Le Nguyen. You might say it's abo

  Wait a minute! How are we counting? Well, I figured that if I leave out " Dear Hypothetical Reader " then this would be the 200th post I've made on this blog. But what about those times when you've posted an "OOPS!" or some kind of holiday greeting, or a just an explanation as to why you weren't posting that day? Are those real posts? I'm counting those, yes. Are you counting this? Uh . . . yes? You're the worst, Lucas! Happy Easter, Hypothetical Reader! Oh, and just in case any non-hypothetical person is reading this: I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe in the ongoing global pandemic. Wear a mask, social distance, and get vaccinated as soon as you can. Oh, and read a book. They're pretty terrific.